Atherton Bikes bag two podiums on their first World Cup Outing Maribor Round 1 2019

After the long winter break all of the World Cup riders were dying to get on track but no-one more so than Gee and Rachel who would be piloting the bike they designed and built themselves – a massive departure from the title sponsorship model. 

Commentator Rob Warner paid tribute to the speed of the prototypes’ development “They’ve done well to arrive here with such a competitive bike” 

It’s been nine years since the World Cup has come to Maribor, the track, high in the beautiful Pohorje mountains, is relatively short but boasts a host of natural features, tight turns and tricky jumps, complicated by of plenty off-camber sections and massive holes!

Sunday - Finals 
For Finals  the morning track was sticky and hard going for the juniors but dried rapidly throughout the day.  
Mille was first up for an exciting battle with Anna Newkirk which saw Mille just 0.1second back in 3rd place, enough to claim the first ever Atherton Bikes Podium!

Mille said “What an exciting race. Happy to finish the weekend without any crashes!” 

In the Women’s Final Tahnee was in the hotseat when Rachel charged onto the track – into the green by split one. But the battle became real as she lost time by split 2 to go 0.5 back! Through the rock garden Rachel was fastest, back into the green by 0.087 but in the technical bottom woods she lost another half second to go back into the red by split 4, she crossed into 2nd. Last rider on track, Tracey Hannah crossed into 3rd. 

Rachel said “Wow, mixed feelings! Of course I came into this first round looking for the win. However much training you’ve done at 85% race runs are a totally different ballgame … I feel like I’m still learning a lot and there’s a lot still to work on,  But it’s a good start and it’s going to be a good year!” 

Charlie’s ride in the Men’s Elite was smooth with no major mistakes but he couldn’t get amongst the front-runners crossing into 13th, enough for an eventual 

Then Gee was on track, riding prototype 5. He didn’t manage to get into the green today, losing time in the pedal section, a smooth ride from there on down wasn’t enough to make amends. 33rd today. 
Gee said “ It felt ace to get the World Cups underway, felt fast all weekend but I pushed too hard. Good start.”